UC Network Management Featured Article
Cisco Targets Large Enterprise With BroadCloud, HCS
HCS and the platform Cisco got via its BroadSoft acquisition are on a collision course. Cisco plans to continue investing in both, and demand for Cisco’s Hosted Collaboration Solution remains strong. But the fact that the company is now serving up Cisco BroadCloud to mid-market and large enterprises makes it a competitor to the Cisco HCS solution. And that has folks wondering how this will all shake out in the long term.
HCS stands for Hosted Collaboration Solution. It’s a collaboration-as-a-service offering with conferencing, contact center, IP PBX, and UC functionality. It has advanced features and is customizable. But it requires a separate cloud instance for each business customer.
The BroadSoft platform, which is now known as Cisco BroadCloud, is a cloud-based calling and collaboration solution as well. But it’s more easily consumable for most businesses. And it makes life easier for the service providers that sell it.
Unlike HCS, the BroadSoft platform is multitenant. Adding to its ease of use for service providers that want to sell it, Cisco recently bundled Cisco BroadCloud Calling, Webex Teams, and video into a single package. That package is available to service providers through Cisco’s Flex Plan, which delivers software, upgrades, and support through a single contract and bill.
SMBs drove early adoption of UCaaS, and this segment still accounts for the largest share of the market, Synergy Research Group reports. But Jeremy Duke, Synergy Research Group’s founder and chief analyst, says that there’s now strong adoption of UCaaS by larger enterprises, while mid-market growth remains robust and SMB grow is trailing off a bit.
“With UCaaS penetration of the PBX market still running at under 10 percent, there remains a long runway for substantial UCaaS growth over the coming years,” adds Duke. “Looking ahead we expect to see mid-to-large enterprises increasingly driving subscriber numbers.”
Edited by Maurice Nagle
